Polite Dissent

What do we have here? Lois Lane, that champion of the first admendment, falsely yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater?

The set-up: two Russian ballerinas are trying to defect. Lois dresses as a ballerina and dances as the lead in the show — another skill I bet you didn’t know Lois had. The Russian goons discover who she really is, and as they rush to capture her she yells: “Fire!” Who cares if people are injured or killed in the stampede for the door as long as she escapes! Right? Right?
This story, ” Swan Dance for a Girl Reporter,” was brought to you by Gerry Conway, Bob Oksner, and Vince Colletta

Historic divergence #1: the famous line about “shouting fire in a crowded theater” (which is universally misquoted, including by me, right here) comes from the written opinion of the Supreme Court in the case Shenck v. the United States(1919). I’m not a lawyer, so I’m not going try to explain this case (though Wikipedia has a fairly concise summation).

Historic Divergence #2: The phrase “clear and present danger” comes from the same place.

Historic Divergence #3: Here’s the relevant quote from the court’s opinion, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes:

The most stringent protection of free-speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic…. The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent them. It is a question of proximity and degree.